Submarine vessel



'J. KUHAJDA.,

SUBMARINE VESSEL.

APPLICATION men 050.11, ms.

Patnted Oct. 19, 1920.

' INVENTOR 2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

J. KUHAJDA.

SUBMARINE VESSEL. APPLICATION FILED DEC. 11. 1918.

Patnted Oct. 19, 1920.

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sUBnAnInE VESSEL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 19, 1920.

Application filed Itecemoer 17, 1918. Serial No. 267,171.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Josnrn KUnAJDA, a subject of the King of Hungary,and a resident of the city of New York, in the county of New York andState of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inSubmarine Vessels, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to submarine vessels, and one of the mainobjects of the invention is to provide a vessel of this type which mayserve for offensive and defensive purposes. I

Another object of the invention is to so mount the guns upon the deck ofthe submarine vessel that the same may be projected above the surface ofthe water and operated while the submarine itself is beneath the watersurface.

Another object of the invention is to provide the submarine with a giuicarrying tank, having steadying means that serve at the same time totake up or check the force of the recoil.

With these and other objects in View, which will more fully appear asthe nature of the invention is better understood, the same consists inthe combination, arrangement and construction of parts hereinafterdescribed, pointed out in the appended claims and illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, it being understood that many changes may be madein the size and proportion of the several parts and details ofconstruction within the scope of the appended claims without departingfrom the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

One of the many possible embodiments of the invention is illustrated inthe accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of asubmarine vessel constructed in accordance with the presentinvention;'Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section taken through theguntank thereof, showing the gun diagrammatically in elevation; Fig. 3is a front elevation, partly in section, of the forward end of the gunbarrel with a cover thereon, to be actuated from within the said tank;Fig. 4: is a vertical section taken through a detail of construction,showing the communication between the gun tank and the submarine hull.

In the drawings, the numeral 20 indicates the hull of the vessel, thatmay be of any suitable shape, its deck 21 being flat, for a purposehereinafter to be mentioned. The

hull is divided into a plurality of compartments, which are not shown asthe same do not form part of this invention.

From the deck rises a conning tower 22, the frontface 2a of which formspart of a cylindrical surface, and being provided with an opening 26,that is normally closed by an inwardly opening door 27. For steering thevessel in a horizontal plane, there is pro vided a rudder 28, the meansfor submerging or raising the vessel being not shown, as they 'do notform part of the present invention. The propelling means of the vesselincludes a screw propeller 29, that is preferably actuated by aninternal combustion engine 30 of any suitable type.

In front of the conning tower is disposed a closed tank 50, having aflat bottom 51, that is adapted to rest on the deck 21. The rear wall 52of this tank is curved, its curvature corresponding to that of the frontface 24 ofthe conning tower. This tank is provided in its rearwall withan opening 58, closed by a door 54:, that is somewhat smaller than thedoor 27 above mentioned and is clamped onto the said tank so as to bedetached there from from either inside or outside. Adacent the opening53, the tank 18 provided in its outer 'face with a groove 55, into whichis adapted to be lowered a packing strip 56, that is carried by a platemember 57. This plate member extends through the conning tower in ahorizontal plane and is adapted to swing around a fulcrum 58 within theconning tower. The means for swinging the plate member 57 around thisfulcrum includes a screw bolt 59, that extends through a bracket 60, itsthreads meshing with those of a nut 61, abutting against said bracket.When the tank is resting on the deck 21, the plate member 57 is swungdownward, so that its packing strip is seated within the groove 55 ofthe said tank. Around the opening 53 of the tank there is provided onthe rear tank, the clamping plate 57 is moved into shield 68, whichprevents ingress of water through the opening 67 into the gun tank. Thetrunnions 69 of the barrel are mounted in the gun mount 63, and forswinging the gun in a vertical plane there is rotatably mounted, uponthe same a worm 70, in mesh with a worm gear segment 71, that isattached to the gun mount 63. Adjacent to the mouth of the gun barrel,there is hinged a cover 72, closing the said mouth under the action of aspring 73. For bringing the cover to its open position, any suitablemeans may be used, for instance a cable 74:, that is attached to thecover and extends into the gun tank.

The connection between the gun tank and the submarine vessel is made bytwo pairs of parallel bar's 7 5, which are pivoted to the said tank andvessel to permit the said tank v to be raised into firing position,maintaining the same always in horizontal position.

'One pair of these bars is provided on the forward part of the-tank andthe other pair on the rear part thereof, and each consists, preferably,of a plurality of links, which may be properly folded when the tank isbrought from the position shown in full lines in Fig. 1 of the drawingsinto the position shown in dotted lines in the said figures 'The tank isof such dimensions that it is buoyant with the gun crew and gun thereon.hen, therefore, released by the plate member 57, it rises from thedotted position shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings to the position shown infull lines therein. However, to aid the ascent of the tank, and

also to steady the same, a pair of telescoping tubes 76 is provided,said tubes being pivoted to the gun tank and to the hull of thesubmarine vessel. Compressed air is used to extend these tubes. On oneof the tubes 7 6 is led from the interior of the submarine vessel to thegun tank a flexible tube 7'7, serving to supply air tothe said'tank andalso as a means through which electric wires,telephone wires, etc., maybe led.

The recoil of the gun on the tank 50 is checked by closing the air inletto the telescoping tube 76, thereby causing acompression of the airwithin the said tube by the downward motion of the tank 50.

From the foregoing it appears that the gun of the submarine, beingmounted upon a buoyant tank, may be projected above the surface ofathewater and operated while the submarine itself is beneath'the water. Therecoil of the gun causes the gun tank to submerge, by properlypredetermining the quantity of compressed air within the telescopingsupports 7 6 thereof. After the compressed air is'fully exhausted fromthe said supports, the gun tank is brought into the position shown indotted lines in Fig. 1'

ofthe drawings, in which it rests upon the deck of the submarine, to beheld in such position bythe plate member 57 above described, or byadditional clamping means, if necessary.

A cable 76 is attached to the submarine hull and leads into the tank 50.By means of this cable the tank is adapted to be lowered onto the deckof the submarine in case the gun is not fired.

What I claim is:

1. A submarine vesselincluding a hull having a hollow elevation on itsdeck, said elevation being provided with a curved wall,

a buoyant tank adapted to rest on said deck provided with a wall havinga configuration corresponding to that of the curved wall of saidelevation and being adapted to abut against the same, said elevationhaving an opening covered by an inwardly opening door, the curved wallof said tank having also an opening normally closed by an inwardlyopening door, thereby permitting a communication between said hull andtank New York, and State of New York, this 18th day of November, A. D.1918.

JOSEPH KUHAJDA.

